Rain, rain and yet more rain

I didn't expect to get any photos today, but when the security light came on outside the front of the house this evening, I noticed the wonderful textures & reflections on the wet stepping stones and slate gravel. So these are first and only attempts this week, I do have some ideas but don't know if I'll get chance to put into practice.

All shots taken in manual - stepping stones F4.0, 1/50 ISO 1600, wet leaf F5.0, 1/25 ISO 1600 and the snail I know is blurred but thought I'd include it anyway - I really struggled with the lack of light and was very conscious that my camera was getting rather wet F4.5 1/5 ISO 1600

No photos today

No photos taken today, but a quote that caught my eye .........................

'You don't take a photograph, you make it' Ansel Adams

Not my garden but God's garden

I'm really pleased with this shot - Manual setting F4.5 1/2500, ISO 800 - I'm beginning to understand my settings so much better and that makes me happy!

It's so frustrating

This layout business in a joke, it's driving me mad, nothing displays as you layout here in the posting.

Oh dear

It was the smooth texture & warm glow that caught my eye with the sundial.

All pictures taken on Manual setting.

I was practising with the DOF with the bamboo ISO 400 1/320 F4.0

I'm feeling guilty for not posting since last Thursday and it's now Monday! I have been practicing but have, if I'm honest, been more focused on the PWL Sequel Extra module - landscapes. However, I do have one or two for my blog.

My beautiful Smudge

Apples

As the sun was actually out when I got home from work today, I was determined to experiment further with the manual setting and DOF.

The first of these photos was set at 1/400 f4.5 ISO 200 and W/B set to sunlight.

The middle shot was 1/400 f7.1 ISO 200 W/B sunlight and you can see that the furthest apple isn't quite so blurred And the last shot I opened the aperature up to f22 1/8 ISO 200. As an exercise this worked as I can see that the DOF is less noticeable, but the shutter speed was too slow and so the picture is out of focus

My Photographic Bibles

My main bible has been 'How to Photograph Absolutely Everything' by Tom Ang, published by Dorling Kindersley, it was an ebay purchase and worth every penny!

Next, for the past four years I have subscribed to EOS magazine www.eos-magazine.com, there are interesting features but it's a bit too technical for me and I must admit, I keep meaning to cancel my subscription. I must do that, then I could put the money towards two other fantastic journals, Digital Camera www.digitalcameramagazine.co.uk and Digital Photo www.photoanswers.co.uk I've learnt sooo much from both mags and I read them daily, there are issues in every room of the house, it must drive DH crazy!

Finally

When I got home from work this afternoon, my first priority was to play with the dogs - we have a visitor for two weeks, Cassie, I'll have to take a photo to showcase, she's a black lab and if she's anything like my black cat, almost impossible to photograph (I feel a challenge coming on). However, I diverse, I went manual and these are the first results, I was quite pleased.

Tomorrow, I'm going to practice some more to make sure it wasn't a fluke and I'm going to list my photographic Bibles and inspiration

Lavendar Fields in Kent

This was a pleasant find yesterday when DH and I visited my Godmother and cousin - still not manual

Still not manual

DH and I took Bramble over to the ski club at Rickmansworth on Saturday, I always take my camera with me because it's such a picturesque setting and I thought I'd try manual for the first time but I just had a mental block about it. Here are two favs I took on AV

Confession

I have a confession to make. I didn't go manual today!

Size matters

My hollyhocks looks like something out of Jack and the Beanstalk and I wanted to try and portray it's height & sheer size. All pictures are SOOTC, have only re-sized. After four years of owning a digital camera, it's been a real eye opener this week to have learnt about the histrogram, I've read and re-read CJ's notes, I've read and re-read the section in my manual and I've listened to a tutorial on Digital Photo Mags website www.photoanswers.co.uk

Sunday 12th July

Decision made! My theme for this Masterclass is going to be 'In the garden', it was going to be 'In my garden' but I thought that might limit me too much. We were at an 18th birthday party yesterday evening, held in our friend's garden and I took lots of photos, some of which I'd like to share, especially as I had to experiment in order to get the right settings as the bad weather and poor light were not on my side

Ok, we have the birthday boy, Tom on your left and Andrew (in fancy dress I might add) on the right. As well as the dull light, the moving subject matter was tricky too, one moment they were coming towards you and the next they were flying backwards, legs & arms all over the place. This one was shot in AV, the WB was set on cloud, ISO 800, 1/60, 5.0.

I didn't have time to look at the histrogram during the party, but looking at it now, it's at it's peak in the middle section and tapers out to both edges.

The shot of Matt & DH playing badminton , again on AV, 1/40, 5.0, ISO 800 I've cropped and added the feathered border.

And lastly, the one of Matt, AV, 1/160, 5.0, ISO 800. All taken with my new Sigma DC 17-70mm f2.8-4.5 and metering mode set to evaluative metering.

In the beginning

Hi everybody! This is a first for me, and I have to confess I don't really know where this message will go, when and if I press the 'save now' button, it's going to be very much a learning curve, so please bear with me, do I even press the 'save now' button or, is it 'publish post'? I wonder which it is, I guess I have a 50-50 chance!

I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be writing here. I think I'll press a few of the options and see what happens and have a peek on the forum too.